Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1887-02-04

that street he has seen
lage of eight hundrd
panies of troops 20 q
idents who were
Washington; Grol
and troops to Fl
OF this counts
is mild, gentle-manne cred old gent1emS
of eighty-four, with good eye-sight, per.y
feet hearing, and as active as the general
run of men at fifty. His hair is white and
thin, but his carriage is erect. A repre-
sentative of the INDICATOR called on
him Monday to get some account of the
olden times from one who lived in them.
and to whom Providence had spared a
wonderful memory by which he is enabled
to live them over again. He suggested
that one who had passed so many years
must have something to tell .sslat would
interest the present generation.
'sYes," said Mr.. Fuller, "we are right
cid in this house. was just thinking,
sitting herssthis morning, that the united
ages of * Sof us make two hundred and
ffty-one years. There is my sister, Miss
Sallie Fuller, who is lightweight, myself
eIghty-fou and my wife seyenty-nlne. L
am, think, tie olda77sssssss4seident of Staun-
ton. l came here in 1910. The next Oldest
resident is Mr.. Moffett Cochran, who came
here in 1914 I was born in Fredericks-
burg, Va, in 1903, and my father came
here October 10Th, 1910.
"How came your father to cross the
mountain to Staunton?"
GEN. WASHINGTON INTERESTED IN
EDUCATION.
swell, my father, who was born in Ire
land, came to Fredericksburg in 1881, as a
teacher, at the request of General WASH
ington.~ Parson John Ryan, an Episcopal
clergyman, came from Ireland at the same
time with him on the same errand. 1t
came about through Col. Fitzgerald, an
Irishman who was on Gen. Washington's
staff, and who was requested by the Gen
eral to write to Ireland for linguist and
mathematician, to teach a school at
fredericksburg. Parson Ryan was lin
guist and MY father was a teacher of
mathematics, and they both came over
togetI Or. Both my father and mnafsee.s:s
were Presbyterians. My ia Mt il
Fredericksburg until 1910. year
letter was sent to him by Judge Stuart,
Chapman johnson and Mr.. Brown, Trus-
tees of the Staunton Academy to come to
Stanton and take charge of a department.
in that school. My father accepted the
offer. Parson Calhoun, a Presby terrain,
was also teaching in the Academy at that
time. Our family got here in the fall of
1910 and rented red house which stood
opposite where VIM. A. Burke now lives
On Frederick street, on the lot where DR..
Ell. FL. Henkel has built. The house
was rented from Jos. Bell. the grandfath-
er of Henderson M. Bell.''
sit was a pretty dull little town then, I
suppose Mr.. Fuller 2''
''Well it was little-it had only about
eight hundred inhabitants living i'll it
then, but it was not always dull. The
first exciting time l remember was
THE NEWS OF THE BURNING OF
WASHINGTON CITY IN THE WAR
OF 1872.
The news got here on Sunday morning
and a printer named Peter Duval, who
had an office where the N. B. Hendry
building now stands on Augusta street,
got out an extra, and sent it around. The
town went wild and the people gathered
~, ho ctr ire T,,
military company was formed to start for
Norfolk. Three companies were formed
here for the war. John Sewers was the
Captain of the Artillery company, and
Billy Young, the jeweller was the first
Lieutenant. Chris. Morris who kept dry
goods store aG what is now the Brandeburg
corner, was the Captain of the company of
infantry. Besides these there was a horse
company. These companies were not
made up Of Staunton people altogether.
but partly of the county people who
came into town on hearing the news of
the burning Of Washington. Besides
these troops who went to n orfolk, some of
the stanton people were officers in the
regular army for recruiting companies.
Nick Kinney, who was an officer of the
regulars, went to Canada. Judge John
Kinney (Who afterwards tried John
Browns comrades Cook, CoppIe and Stew
ems, at CharlestoWn.) also an officer of the
regulars, went to Canada. My brother,
James Fuller, who was also an officer of
the regulars recruited company in
Greenbrier county. That Sunday evening
after the news came, another infantry
company was raised of which Chapman
Johnson was captain; Briscoe e. Baldwin
1st lieutenant, and jefferson Stuart order
ly sergeant. They started the next day
at noon for Norfolk and pressed horses
into service on which to go. The wo-
men worked hard day and night
making military hunting shirts to
put on the troops. They went down
to Norfolk, but we're discharged by the
Governor as their services were not need
ed. l remember that one Of the members
was DR.. w ilson, the father Of Thomas P.
Wilson. who was cousin of Bishop
Alpheus Wilson of the Methodist church.
THE OLD TIME TAvERNS.
When came here, the town lay in what
was called the bottom, that is the level
space reaching from the court house to
the foot of the hills around. New street.
was the street on which nearly all the
business was done and the centre of bust
ness was about where Campbells barber
shop stood. The old Wayne Tavern stood
where Loeb Bros. Low is; the Eagle Tav-
ern where the Spectator" office now Is